Joyous Children Side fics
by UnderneathXtheXunderneath
Summary: All the stories that want to be told but didn't make it into the main story: Welcome to Joyou Children Side fics! First up is Sakumo's POV of his encounter with Etsuko. You might want to read 'Joyous Children' first, though.
1. Sakumo

Heya people, I'm alive! With this story, I'm opening the doors to **Joyous Children's side fics** : things that didn't make it into the main story, different POVs that didn't fit as an Interlude and the likes - you get the gist. First up is a retelling of Etsuko's encounter with Sakumo from the latter's POV. It was something that was itching me immediately after writing that chapter and after speaking to some of you, I found out that you were interested to read that. So here you are! Enjoy and stay tuned for an update of the main fic in the next couple days. Love y'all!

Beta'ed by the ever amazing **NightsBlackRose13.**

* * *

 **Sakumo**

Sakumo had just come back from his morning jog out in the forests surrounding Konoha when he discovered her, entirely spent, on a nearby Uchiha training field at eight in the morning. She had looked so small, so fragile sitting there in the early sunlight, and it was then that he decided to interfere with her life once again.

Enough was enough and the girl that was still only barely older than a toddler urgently needed a break.

Sakumo knew what she was doing, knew what her legal guardian was making her do and he hardly approved of it. He knew because he hadn't been able to forget her since the day he'd walked in on her in the hospital room, in the middle of an attempt to gouge her eyes out with her own fingers, and he'd decided to keep an eye on the little Uchiha girl and her brother. Just to make sure that they were doing okay.

A little over three weeks later and he'd come to the conclusion that they were most decidedly not doing okay, at least not the girl. Not by a long shot.

For the time he'd been watching over her now he'd never seen her do anything but train. It wouldn't have bothered him too much if he'd only seen her once or twice per week or something like that or if she at least would have seemed to be enjoying it – but no.

He'd seen her every. Single. Day. For hours. With an intense grimness that couldn't be healthy.

She didn't train alone very often, either working with her guardian or, more regularly, with a boy not much older than her. Even from a distance he could tell that the working relationships with neither of them were particularly happy.

By now, Sayu probably would have already blazed down on that "douchebag of a guardian" – Sakumo winced when he thought back to that one conversation concerning Etsuko he'd had with her – and approached the girl, ignoring any and all existing clan protocols in favor of saving her. His wife tended to let compassion take over, especially where children were concerned, and she wasn't apologetic for that in the least. Which was one of the many reasons he loved her, of course.

But.

He was not his wife. He was the head of his own clan, as small as it might be, and he'd been raised to respect the ways of other clans even if he himself didn't agree with them.

Thinking about it now, he was pretty sure he should have ignored them anyway.

(He could practically _see_ his wife, being busy somewhere in a camp at the border of Ame, and stopping whatever she was doing just to roll her eyes in that typical 'told-you-so' fashion that always made him scratch his head sheepishly.)

Etsuko let out a startled whelp when she opened her eyes to find him standing a few feet in front of her and he immediately berated himself for his oversight. _Of course she would be startled. She couldn't have sensed you because she is a little child who doesn't know about the concept of sensing chakra. Smooth, Sakumo, real_ s _mooth_.

He held up his hand in a placating manner. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!"

The little girl frowned and at first he thought that she wouldn't recognize him, but then her eyes went wide as realization hit her.

"Hatake-san!"

He had a few seconds to marvel at her politeness, since she was using his family name to address him although he was quite sure that he'd introduced himself with his first name that day weeks ago, before he noticed the twitch of a muscle that told him that the girl was going to lose her balance in her attempt to bow down in greeting.

He was there in a flash.

"Easy there" he said as he caught her by her shoulders. "We don't want you to get hurt now, do we?"

The girl looked faintly embarrassed when she turned her face to him, but her eyes changed the instant they met his gaze and suddenly, she went rigid.

Alarm shot through Sakumo's body, a thousand different thoughts racing through his head as his mind automatically started to supply him with his knowledge on the behavior of traumatized children – which, as he discovered, was shockingly meager. Konoha's shinobi training system clearly put other things first. Something he would have to keep his eye on and think over. Later.

Right now, he watched her every move, her every breath until he was sure that her reaction was not one born out of fear of being attacked and only then allowed himself to relax the tiniest bit. He took his hands from her shoulders and squatted down.

"Are you out here alone?" he asked cautiously, his eyes never leaving her small form. He half expected her to bolt as soon as he lost contact and was mildly surprised when she actually stayed. She looked like she was considering that possibility, though.

When she didn't reply after a while, he softly called out her name again. "Etsuko-chan?"

Her response was a startled wince that could be interpreted as a nod if one was generous, but judging by the panicked look in her eyes, he suspected that she didn't even remember what she was answering to.

Well, he thought with a wry smile, at least she was not running.

He decided to try another question. "May I ask why you were training at such an early hour? It was training, wasn't it?"

Etsuko gave a proper nod this time, although she averted her eyes. Strands of black hair fell loose, framing her small face as she mumbled something to the ground. He had to strain his ears to catch it.

"I couldn't sleep."

Sakumo held back a sigh.

He had expected something like this. Ever since that night when he'd found her beside the corpse of her father, staring at the lifeless body with empty eyes, he'd known that the girl wouldn't have a good night's sleep for a very long time. The certainty had only solidified when he found out the all but confirmed truth that she had killed one of the infiltrators.

He knew because sometimes, even years after the deed, he could still see the face of his first kill in his dreams. Or the face of his first lost comrade.

He also knew that in those situations, the smiles of his mother, father and later his wife were the only thing that could bring him back from all the guilt and grief.

Looking at the little girl right in front of him, he immediately understood that although she needed it, there was nobody there to smile for her. Her mother and father were dead, her guardian too cold and her little brother too young to truly understand. She herself was too carefully guarded to let anyone see the true extent of her anguish – and somehow, this behavior reminded him much more of an ANBU operative than a child – while nobody else was willing to recognize her pain as the pain it was: not something that would fade away over time because of her young age but something just as real and lasting as any adult's. He could already see the darkness starting to eat away at her, her tiny face displaying deep lines that shouldn't belong there and her eyes devoid of the brightness usually inherent to the innocence of children.

The loneliness had to be suffocating.

It was in this moment that he realized that he couldn't leave her alone anymore. He would never forgive himself if she walked down _that path_ , right before his eye.

So he did what nobody else could do for her.

He smiled an open, genuine smile and offered her a friendly ear. "You must be really hungry after all this hard work then. I was just going to get some breakfast. Do you want to come along?"

The little girl's head shot up, her midnight eyes almost comically wide with incredulity. It was the most emotion he'd ever seen on her face that was not heart-wrenching grief and he couldn't help the sudden surge of warmth in his chest. It wasn't unlike the feeling he got when he looked at his infant son. She looked adorable like that.

When she didn't answer immediately, he added a good-natured "Of course I'll pay", carefully making his voice light and carefree, and held his breath.

Etsuko made a small nod.

Relief rushed through him as he let it out and smiled. The girl was still hesitant, but she was letting him in.

He counted it as a good sign.

* * *

As always, don't forget to tell me what you think. :)


	2. Shikaku

Hey people, I'm back in the business! Before I get back to the main story, I remembered to make good on a promise for a certain someone who's not only an amazing person but also an amazing artist. For they have made two pieces of artwork for my story already! Thanks tokibun! Go to my profile for the link, you should definitely see them :) And if we're talking fanart anyway: tricneu. Gorgeous. Go check it out.

Also, this served as a warming up, so forgive me if it's a bit choppy. Eheh.

Beta'ed by **NightsBlackRose13** of course, my eternal partner in crime.

* * *

 **Shikaku**

Shikaku did not enjoy making big, life-altering decision. They tended to come with a lot of baggage, somebody was bound to get hurt in the process and all in all, the whole thing was just one big ball of trouble.

At least, that was the impression he got when he observed adults. How would he know otherwise? He counted himself lucky that he himself had been spared an actual event of that magnitude until now, which of course didn't prevent him from going through a hypothetical scenario.

What he definitely knew, though, was that he liked it even less when life-altering decisions concerning him were made without him being asked for his opinion. Not only because he had gone through such a hypothetical scenario. But also because it was happening right now, on this spring afternoon that was supposed to be perfectly, ordinarily boring.

Here he was, standing before the screen that would lead inside his father's office and there they were, discussing if it was prudent not to marry him off to one Uchiha Etsuko.

Well _,_ to be fair, he didn't know for sure if they were planning on keeping it from him, so maybe they were not going to not ask for his opinion. Still.

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, contemplating his options.

Option 1: Go in, ignore his parents and get the shogi board he'd been after in the first place.

Option 2: Go in, confront his parents and get the shogi board after.

Option 3: Walk away and pretend nothing had happened. He would miss the shogi board with this option, though, which came close to 'unacceptable' and even might have exceeded 'troublesome'.

"Do we have to decide this now?" he heard his father ask in a rather annoyed tone. "I can't imagine it's as pressing for the Uchiha as they present it to be and besides, I'm pretty sure that Shikaku will want to at least get an idea of what he's getting into before things become final."

"Oh, I agree" his mother answered. "The Uchiha do love their drama. I mean, the girl is what, five?"

"Four, actually."

Shikaku choked on plain air.

Option 3 it was, clearly.

He turned on his heels and walked straight through the front door, not bothering to check if it shut properly behind him. It wasn't as if somebody was stupid enough to try and break into the Nara compound by broad daylight anyway.

He wandered around aimlessly for a while, trying not to think about what he'd just heard and failing spectacularly.

Marriage.

So troublesome.

Of course, Shikaku was no stranger to the concept of duty. He was the heir to the Nara clan. As such, he was part of an alliance of clans that made sure he was friends with members of those clans. Said friends were also clan heirs and discussed this fact openly with him. Duty everywhere.

Only, it had never felt like it.

He actually enjoyed the company of his friends and sure, there were expectations for how he was supposed to behave as the heir. But Shikaku didn't have the feeling that his clan was particularly strict about them. He'd been dragging out his graduation for some time now, for example, and nobody had complained about it. Even more, his friends were dragging out their graduation with him. No big deal.

He was probably very lucky. Or, had been. He wished he had appreciated it more, now that he had been hit by something serious.

Quite literally.

He felt the impact of something barrelling straight into him and although it was only with moderate force, he barely managed to stay on his feet, completely overtaken by surprise. A quiet "oof" escaped his mouth as the wind was knocked out of him.

He looked down to see a little girl sitting before him, improbably big black eyes widened even further and generally looking like she had just found something either completely amazing or terrifying.

"Oi," he exclaimed, "you alright?"

He stretched out his hand to help her get up and was promptly hit by something short again. This time, he fell.

"Nee-jaaaaa!"

He blinked and spotted something clutching at his leg. He blinked again and discovered that it was another child, even tinier than the first one and looking suspiciously similar. Same black hair, same big black eyes, same pale skin. Uchiha, if he was not mistaken. And going by the even tinier child's yell, siblings.

He brought a hand to his forehead and muttered his favorite word. Figured that he would run into a pair of them right after hearing that he may or may not be married into that clan.

His action, though not intended to do anything but help express his exasperation, had a very interesting effect on the little girl. She began to _laugh_.

'So Uchiha actually can find something funny' flashed through his mind as he watched her clutch at her stomach, her whole body shaking with mirth. She did not hold back and Shikaku found himself thinking that hearing the voice of an unknown person for the first time through free and unrestraint laughter was not a bad way at all. She had a nice laugh, a pleasant ringing broken up by irregular little gasps that sounded like hiccups.

The toddler clinging to his leg decided to let go at some point and trudged over to the girl who, still not stopping her laughter, embraced him affectionately.

Yeah, definitely siblings. Also, very close and not afraid to show it. Which was interesting.

He stood up and was about to extend his hand in help again when she finally calmed down enough to stand up on her own. She made a small bow. "I apologize for that, Nara-san."

He gave a startled twitch.

It was one thing for him to figure out her affiliation to the Uchiha upon first glance since that clan was rather obvious in appearance and he'd met enough of them to have a sizeable pool of comparable subjects. It was another to be figured out so fast by her, what with him not being big on wearing his clan symbol square on his chest. In fact, the only thing that was kind-of-but-not-really giving him away right now was his ponytail, and even that ponytail's status as clan-characteristic was debatable. Seriously, there were plenty of people with ponytails. Even spiky ones.

Besides, she was, like, _tiny_. He doubted that her experience with members of the Nara clan was extensive, especially since she was an Uchiha.

All the more intriguing, then.

"No harm done" he said, pointedly giving his voice a casual tilt. He eyed her intently while adding the next sentence. "Though I admit that you have me at a disadvantage here. What's your name?"

Her eyes widened minutely.

 _Caught you_.

"I, uh." Shikaku could practically see her stumbling over the words in her mind. "… Uchiha Etsuko," she finally managed. "And this is my brother, Obito. Nice to meet you!"

Shikaku felt as if he had been hit by a boulder.

Just his luck.

Not only running into any random pair of Uchiha, but running into his maybe/probably-betrothed.

He wondered if she knew.

"Nice to meet you, too" he said when he was reasonably sure that his voice would not betray his thoughts. "Are you heading somewhere?"

A small frown that had nothing to do with what she said next appeared between her eyebrows. "Ah, no, I was actually on my way home from the playground."

It was … a bit bizarre, trying to follow two levels of communication so completely divergent at the same time. Was she even aware that her facial expressions were so … telling? Especially for an Uchiha.

This was all very interesting indeed. Even more so than a good game of shogi, perhaps.

"Ah. Well, it was nice speaking with you. I'm sure we'll meet again." He tipped two of his fingers against his head in farewell.

She mimicked him. "Yeah, see you around!"

As he slowly made his way home, he couldn't stop thinking about his encounter. Sure, he was still put off by the notion to be married anytime soon. But this Uchiha Etsuko.

That required some looking into.

)()()(

"Shika!"

He contemplated shortly if it was worth the effort to blink and see what it was that had Chouza excitedly poking his side and whispering not-to-subtly into his ear. He was having a rather nice nap, as he did in every lesson that was not taijutsu training or anything else that required a certain degree of physical activity, and Chouza knew that. Which meant that whatever his friend had to say might have to be considered interesting enough to at least open his eyes. Maybe.

"Oi, Shika!" Chouza repeated, more urgently now. "The new girl is here!"

"It's the Uchiha," Inoichi added. "You know, your betrothed."

Shikaku groaned. He was pretty sure that if Inoichi had been the type, he would be sporting a huge shit-eating grin now.

"I should never have told you. Also, she's not my betrothed," he mumbled as he prepared himself for the troublesome task to lift his head off the desk.

"Good thing you didn't, then" the blonde replied with a crooked smile.

"Mothers. So troublesome."

Chouza nodded sagely, even forgoing to shove another potato chip into his mouth for the action. He remedied it right after by shoving in three instead.

Shikaku finally brought his head into position and caught the last bits of Etsuko's introduction.

"… am very pleased to meet you all. I hope we will all work well together." Cue a small bow and a very polite smile. Too polite.

Shikaku winced.

Sometimes, he couldn't fault the other children for thinking her outright creepy.

He quickly reassembled his face into a lopsided grin when her gaze swept over the last row, typically only occupied by him, Inoichi and Chouza. Etsuko's smile relaxed slightly when she spotted them and, prompted by an inviting wave from Chouza, made her way over.

"Hi Chouza, hi Inoichi, hi Shikaku," she greeted them quietly.

"Hi Etsuko!" Chouza stage whispered.

"Etsuko-chan," Inoichi said.

"Yo," Shikaku drawled.

He was pleased to see that the tense lines at her shoulders relaxed at that, complete with lips pulling up into a smirk and eyes rolling.

"Saving energy again?"

"Always," he replied, smirking right back.

She sat down on the chair next to him and from one second to the next, she turned into the perfect attentive student.

He blinked.

She still managed to surprise him with her rapid shifts in outward behavior. Changing it came as easily to her as breathing and the most puzzling thing about it was that she actually meant what she was doing. It was as if she put on different masks for different situations and then proceeded to not only do the acting for a certain role but rather a complete 'melting into it', utterly becoming who the role demanded her to be.

Which was all the more interesting when considering that she was really bad at pretending.

He thought it rather contradictory. How could someone be so good at filling out different roles but at the same time have such difficulties with feigning comparatively easy stuff? He remembered the first time he'd watched her spend time with her little brother and the Hatake kid on the playground or the first times he'd observed her training – with and without her guardian. She had always been absolutely dedicated to and completely absorbed by what she was doing. He also remembered the first time she'd tried toning down her comments when she was around him and his friends and, more recently, her humor, as if she was trying to hide her level of intelligence. Which of course didn't work because he'd seen through it immediately which in turn was because she was so incredibly bad at it. Seriously, that girl probably couldn't play pretend to save her life.

Combined with the undeniable fact that she was uncommonly bright, however, that inability of hers presented a rather puzzling picture.

Something that he'd decided he wanted to unpuzzle, no matter the cost, no matter how long it would take. After all, the only thing he enjoyed more than an intriguing puzzle was a game of shogi – which had better be completely and utterly brilliant.

Another lazy side glance in her direction confirmed that she was still the perfect student.

But also doodling mini shinobi on her otherwise impeccable notes.

He grinned to himself.

Yeah, he was definitely going to enjoy figuring her out.

)()()(

Her grip on his arm was tighter than he was comfortable with, but one look at her face and he knew that complaining would make everything worse. Although he had to admit at the same time that he could hardly imagine anything worse than what was already happening.

Because she knew.

It had all been building up to this point for a long time of course. More than a year, if he remembered right. During that year he'd debated more than once if he should have told her, but for some reason he'd always pulled back. Even now, he was still not exactly sure why he'd never done it – but that train of thought would run dry now anyway.

As he endured her hissing at him like a cat – the calm, murderous type of cat that had been seriously wronged – he noticed that she wasn't really angry at him. Not even after he revealed that he'd known long ago, although he did flinch when he saw that look of defeat in her eyes. That spark of life only came back when he told her that he'd told his father he was putting the decision off to give her a chance to think about it.

It made him think about himself for a change. Realize things.

At some point during that year he'd … gotten used to the idea of marriage. He knew it was a strange thing to think and as he dug deeper, he was not so surprised to find out that him being so relaxed about it had a lot to do with the marriage candidate herself.

It was not that he desperately wanted to marry Etsuko – far from it.

Rather, he'd come to accept that it could be infinitely worse. She was not as troublesome as she could be, simple as that. He wondered if it was alright to think like that.

He also wondered if the reaction Etsuko was having stemmed from the fact that it was him. So he asked. And when she answered with his favorite word, it didn't feel like a rejection but more like an old, shared joke.

In that moment he discovered that he enjoyed shared jokes. Very much so, in fact.

* * *

I'm curious now. What do you think? Telll me!


	3. Toshiro

Dear people, today is the 2nd anniversary of Joyous Children! Yay!

I'm sorry I cannot update the main story right now and my followers on tumblr will know this piece already, but still I thought I'd upload it so that you have something at least. As you can see, it's Toshiro's POV on Etsuko and I hope you enjoy it!

Last thing: I have also started a little something on tumblr for the anniversary. If you've ever wanted to ask a question and have a detailed, **fully voiced** answer, now is the time. I'll be doing this until January 23rd 11.59 p.m., so see you there!

* * *

 **Toshiro**

The resentment did not come overnight.

When Otou-sama told him that two children were going to come and live with them, he wasn't sure how to feel.

Okaa-chan didn't like it. Okaa-chan and Otou-sama even had a fight over it. Okaa-chan usually didn't fight with Otou-sama.

He didn't understand why she would do that. One of them was still a baby and the other was two years younger than him. He thought that maybe, she was angry over the additional work she had to do now for them. He understood that. But he also understood that the two of them didn't have their parents anymore. They had to be sad.

And then the girl screamed at Otou-sama and he slapped her and grounded her for a week.

He thought she was silly for doing that. He would need to explain the rules to her so she would never scream at Otou-sama again. After her grounding, because she needed to understand why she was being punished. Maybe, if she understood on her own, she wouldn't even need him to explain anymore. That would be best.

To his surprise, she did.

Otou-sama took him and her training after that. He was excited. He could show her what he was training and maybe, he could even teach her after she watched him.

But Otou-sama didn't let her watch. He let her spar with him.

He'd wanted to go easy on her. To let her have a starting experience different from what he remembered from his own harsh lessons with Otou-sama. He really wanted to be a bit like an older brother to her.

Until she opened her eyes and he saw nothing but red.

Otou-sama liked the red in her eyes. He talked to her, about her, compared him to her and did. Not. Stop. Not that day. Not the days after that.

Duty. Representing the clan. Prodigy. Even though she is a girl.

Keep up with her. Do you want to be left behind?

He hated hearing this. But Otou-sama wouldn't stop. So he worked harder. Maybe he would stop once he caught up with her.

He never did. She was always faster.

Techniques. Knowledge. Graduation.

Always faster.

The resentment did not come overnight, but one day, it was there. And he couldn't shake it off.


End file.
